Welcome to the Education Blog of Carla Ranger - Former District 6 Trustee - Dallas Independent School District - DISD

Friday, June 3, 2011

Dallas ISD board actions must be taken in an open meeting

The Texas Open Meetings Act is found in the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551.

The Open Meetings Act indicates in plain language that Trustees cannot make decisions in secret meetings.

Sec. 551.102. REQUIREMENT TO VOTE OR TAKE FINAL ACTION IN OPEN MEETING. A final action, decision or vote on a matter deliberated in a closed meeting under this chapter may only be made in an open meeting that is held in compliance with the notice provisions of this chapter.

Dallas ISD Board policy BEC (Local) - Texas Open Meetings Act - points out the responsibility of a Trustee to leave a meeting if the Trustee believes there is a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.

BEC (Local)- If, in the opinion of a Trustee, a closed meeting strays beyond its specific call or includes topics that should not be discussed in closed meeting under the law, the Trustee should call the chair's attention to a "point of order."

Any Trustee should leave the meeting if he or she feels that continuing in the meeting will subject him or her to liability should the action be challenged in a court of law.

BEC (Legal) - A final action, decision, or vote on a matter deliberated in a closed meeting shall be made only in an open meeting for which proper notice has been given. Gov't Code 551.102 [See BE].

This is what the Texas Open Meetings Act and Dallas ISD board policies require of Trustees.

A Teacher's Creed

"In the classroom on the first day of a new school year, I am eager to meet my students. I have rehearsed my greeting and first day’s remarks, but no matter how many years I’ve prepared for this procedure, it’s always new. My heart pumps a bit harder, faster; I feel adrenaline like an athlete, or like an actor, or maybe like a novice public speaker. It’s a marvelous feeling, this first day, because I know that something special is going to happen, and I know it because I’ve experienced it before and I know that I will experience it every time I meet a new class throughout my venerable career. And then they’re seated before me and I smile at this special feeling. This is an assembly of students, yes. But there’s so much more, because each of these young persons is more than just a student entrusted to me. Each of these students has a story to tell, a lifetime, however brief, of experiences, a history in volumes whose richness and depth I can barely begin to fathom. And so as I absorb the first glimpse of these young charges, I must appreciate the extent of my responsibility, of the privilege I’ve accepted in presenting these young souls my special knowledge. In offering them my talent and passion, I am adding an enormous array of new bright stars to the vast firmament of their minds, stars that will never have time to fade in their lifetimes. I will be part of their story. And I know that each of them will always be part of mine. And that’s a good feeling, a feeling that is perpetually renewed, revisited, and rewritten in A Teacher’s Creed."